My ubercart site sells samples of flooring products organized by Manufacturer -> Style -> Color. Colors are the products, not the parent Styles or grandparent Manufacturers. Here's an example breakdown of one Manufacturer with two Styles offering a total of 7 Colors as products:

-Unique Carpets (MFG)
--Ascona (STYLE)
---Red (COLOR)
---Blue
---Orange
--Bellagio
---Maroon
---Turquoise
---Gold
---Black

Once the customer selects a Manufacturer, they see a list of styles with one or more color options. Each of the color options will inherit a description such as texture and material used from the parent Style. They will Add to cart/request a sample of the Color they are interested in.

(NOTE: Color cannot be some sort of global Attribute (as I understand attributes) as each Style will have unique set of available colors.)

How would you go about this?

Thanks,
-Steve